Taipei is in every sense a modern metropolis, with its sleek glass and steel architecture, advanced transportation system, and vast, lively scene of shopping malls, arts venues, hotels, restaurants and night spots. Since the 1970s, the city’s eastern area has emerged as a bustling center of finance and commerce, and now features skyscrapers, wide boulevards and the Taipei World Trade Center. Yet the modern skyline retains a distinct Chinese flavor, in landmarks such as the Grand Hotel, the Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen Memorial halls, Longshan Temple, the Confucius Temple, and the National Palace Museum, to name a few examples.

While the city embraces modernity, cultural traditions and arts continue to thrive and color daily life in Taipei, where concerts, festivals and other events are celebrated in full splendor throughout the year. Nature lovers will appreciate the abundance of nearby mountains, greenery, urban parks and waterfronts. No matter what you enjoy—whether bustling cityscapes, the arts, scenic natural areas—Taipei and its environs offer something special for everyone.

Taipei is Taiwan's largest city as well as its economic, political, and cultural center. It is a lively and diversified modern cosmopolitan metropolis. Its buildings provide much architectural splendor and visitors who are fond of historic sites and old streets will not want to miss the work of traditional master builders evident on Dihua Street in the Dadaocheng area or the Longshan Temple in the Wanhus district, as well as other places. The internationally renowned National Palace Museum has an inexhaustible collection of precious historical Chinese arts and artifacts that no visitor can afford to miss; Taipei is also home to many other fine museums, including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Museum of History, and the Postal Museum. On the city's outskirts, the Yangmingshan National Park has unique volcanic terrain, a rich variety of forest vegetation, and an extensive network of hiking trails, making it a popular destination for visitors from the Taipei area and elsewhere. Yangmingshan is one of the places in the Taipei area where you can indulge yourself in a hot mineral bath; for the pleasure of relieving the exhaustion of a day's travels, you can also go to the hot springs of Beitou or Wulai. Taipei also has the largest zoo in Taiwan, where you can see the rare Formosan black bear, cuddly koalas, and stately king penguins. The city's comprehensive rapid transit system takes you quickly to the zoo or just about anyplace you might want to go in the metropolitan area.

Additional links about Taipei

http://english.taipei.gov.tw/TCG/index.jsp

http://www.taiwanfun.com/north/taipei/index.htm

Academic Links

Universities via Yahoo.com - Universities.
U.S. Higher Education - usefull links to U.S. universities

How to get to Taipei

By plane
Taipei's international airport is officially called Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. However, be aware that as this name was only adopted in September 2006, the old name, Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (often abbreviated as CKS), is still commonly used. The airport is located about 30 km from the city and freeway buses ply the route, picking up and dropping off passengers at most of the five star hotels. It also stops at the Taipei Main Station and the domestic airport (Songshan Airport), which is in downtown Taipei. There are also bus services connecting the airport to nearby cities and Taichung in central Taiwan. Travelers to other destinations need to change transportation in Taipei.

There are four transportation options at the airport: bus, high speed rail, taxi, and pre-arranged sedan.

Express airport buses cost between NT$120 and NT$150 depending on the bus company, and there are stops at both terminals. Most Taipei routes are divided into West and East, with each company operating a service every ten to fifteen minutes on each route. The western line bus terminates at Taipei Main Railway Station and also makes a stop at Yuanshan MRT Station on the Xindian line (NB: The Airbus company buses on the western line meander through local towns before joining the freeway and therefore take much longer than the blue and white Guoguang buses which enter the freeway directly). Buses plying the eastern route terminate at the Taipei Grand Hyatt Hotel and make a stop at Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT Station on the Nangang and Muzha lines. There is also a bus connecting to the domestic Songshan Airport. Ticket counters display route maps showing all stops.

In addition, there are some non-express buses which are slightly cheaper, but pass through towns such as Taoyuan, Nankan or Kueishan before arriving in Taipei.

When returning to the airport, express buses can be caught at various stops throughout the city. One major one is accessible via Exit 9 at the underground mall beneath Zhongxiao West Road (in front of Taipei Main Railway Station) or Exit 5 if you are coming out of the Taipei Main Station MRT. Another is at the terminal at the Songshan Domestic Airport. Other stops are outside major hotels and also in front of Minsheng MRT Station. For people taking early morning flights, the earliest available buses to the airport leave at around 4AM from the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel (201 Dunhua South Rd Section 2).

It is also easy to get to the High Speed Rail station from the airport. There is a bus that runs approximately every 15 minutes from the airport to the Taoyuan High Speed Rail station. From there, you can catch one of the HSR trains to Taipei Main Station (where it is easy to take a taxi or MRT to your final destination). The bus is NT$30 and the train is NT$160.

Direct bus connections between the airport and other cities in Taiwan are also available. U-bus also runs shuttle buses every 15 min from both terminals to THSR Taoyuan station (15 min away), from where you can continue your journey by high-speed train.

By train
All inter-city trains, including those operated by the Taiwan High Speed Rail, arrive at and depart from Taipei Railway Station on Zhongxiao West Road, Sec 1 - opposite the 53 story Shinkong Mitsukoshi Building. Taipei Main Station is a huge facility. Ticket counters are on the first floor and platforms in B1. There is also a food court on the second floor, several underground shopping malls, an auditorium on the 5th floor, and MRT stations serving three lines. In addition to ticket counters, the first floor also has a tourist office, small supermarkets, a post office, stores selling aboriginal handicrafts and several booths offering head and neck and full body massage (NT$100 for every ten minutes).

By bus
Private and government intercity buses arrive and depart from the Taipei Bus Terminal (also called Taipei Intercity Bus Terminal). The terminal is a few minutes walk to the west of Taipei Railway Station (to the left and behind the station when facing the building from Zhongxiao West Road). A convenient way to reach the terminal is via the underground 'Taipei Shopping Mall' (located at the rear/north side of the station) - '4 South' is the nearest exit to the terminal. NB: For refreshments or snacks, the terminal only has convenience stores; for fresh drinks, passengers will need to go to the underground 'Taipei Shopping Mall' where there is a juice bar near exit '4 North' (directly across from the exit for the terminal) and a coffee shop near exit '10 North' Generally speaking, the buses operated by private companies are more comfortable and sport such amenities as wide reclining seats and individual game and video monitors. The government run buses are blue and white and are called guoguang hao. All intercity buses are known as keyun and can be distinguished from the local city buses called gongche by the fact that they do not have a route number, but only the name of the destination.